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Smart and Bored?

What Do High Achievers Need?

One 6-year-old struggles to master her letters, while the classmate directly next to her is already reading fluentlyand thinking analytically. Such discrepancies are ubiquitous in today’s schools—and the kids who have already attained mastery beyond their grade level are often ending up bored, depressed, and underchallenged. The average first-grade classroom, says Deborah Ruf, author of Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind, can have as many as 12 grade-equivalencies and an IQ range of up to 80 points.

Every child in your district should be achieving at his or her highest level, all the time. Of course, that’s easier said than done. “We need to figure out a way to challenge kids, not just move them along because they’re at grade level,” says Mary Kay Sommers, president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and principal at Shepardson Elementary in Fort Collins, Colorado. But research shows that our schools are consistently failing to provide that challenge to the top students, with perhaps devastating ramifications. Educators are now rethinking their methods for reaching high achievers.

another sputnik eraThis isn’t the first time that this has been a priority. During the space race, in a rush to put a man on the moon, we increased the focus on math, science, and gifted education. Today, says Jean Peterson, associate professor at Indiana’s Purdue University, “we’re entering another Sputnik Era and are belatedly realizing that we haven’t been paying attention to the best and the brightest.” In December 2007, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the New York Times reported that students in the U.S. scored lower than students in 16 other countries in science and lower than 23 others in math. This kicked STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programs into gear.

We also can’t forget our high-achieving students who are talented in literature and the arts, or who are great leaders or collaborators, says Don Ambrose, a professor of education at Rider University in New Jersey. By not looking at the entire spectrum of achievement, says Ambrose, we’re also losing tomorrow’s political leaders, great authors, and more.

higher standards, lower scoresNo Child Left Behind has brought higher standards and more accountability, but with the emphasis on getting students to the same proficient testing level, high-achieving students slide by and “schools have hit a test barrier,” says Barbara Radner, director for the Center for Urban Education in Chicago. “Scores did go up, but then they flattened out.”

Along the way, she says, we have limited our gifted population, offering fewer programs that enable these kids to excel. This shows up in the small percentage of students exceeding the standards on tests.

To get test scores up, from proficient to exceeding and beyond, we have to focus on both high achievers and underachievers who are currently slipping through the cracks.

tapping into the future In the current rush to get every student on the same “proficient” page, those who could excel are bored or worse, and we are losing high-potential students from day one. According to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s September 2007 report “Achievement Trap: How America Is Failing Millions of High-Achieving Students from Low-Income Families,” while 28 percent of students from low-income families are in the top quartile in first-grade classes, by fifth grade, nearly half of those students have fallen from that rank in reading achievement. And it’s not just students from low-income families.

“Seventy percent of the kids who are high ability are underachieving,” says Rider University professor Ambrose. When only 30 percent of high achievers are engaged, the vast majority are sliding through school, unchallenged and unengaged. “Every child should be learning something new every day,” says Betsy McCoach, assistant professor at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education.

In the long run, high-achieving students may end up frustrated, disciplined for bad behavior, or even depressed. At best, they’re bored; at worst, they won’t make it to graduation. If high-achieving kids aren’t challenged in elementary school, they turn off when they hit challenges in middle or high school, says McCoach.

This is often more of a risk for low-income students. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation found that while 90 percent of high-achieving high school students attend college, regardless of income level, lower-income high achievers are less likely to graduate. “We’re losing an enormous pool of talent,” says Josh Wyner, executive vice president of the Foundation and lead author of the “Achievement Trap” study. “And these are students who are poised to be leaders.” Many students from low-income families have the potential to help bridge the gap between rich and poor through education. “As a society,” says Wyner, “we should always care when a pool of students obviously prepared to lead loses ground and doesn’t get that opportunity.”

The good news from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation study: Students who enter high school as high achievers are likely to graduate. “If they have a well-established habit of achievement,” says Purdue professor Peterson, “even if the bottom falls out, many times those habits will support them.” So, how do we get these high achievers on the right track from day one?

the administrator’s roleAs an administrator, you can facilitate high achievers’ learning. “I think it’s important to empower teachers to look for the strategies and methodologies that will help kids achieve at high levels,” says NAESP’s Sommers.

Articulate Achievement: First, make sure that your school’s mission and expectations are clear, and that all the teachers are on board. Within that mission and expectations should be that everyone, staff and students, work to their highest ability and potential. Exceeding the standards, not just testing at proficient, should be the ultimate goal.

Keep an Open Mind: Recognize that underachievers may exist in your school. Make sure that all the students in your school are properly identified—could any do better than they are? Set up plans with those students for independent study, or contracts that encourage them to increase their participation and learning in class.

Up the Challenge: Make sure that kids who are high achievers are on the track for success. In middle school, that means that you’re preparing them for AP classes, and helping them get into a high school that will challenge them. In high school, it’s making sure that those students are on a clear path to higher education. At the district level: Do you have a track for high-achieving students? Are AP classes available and are middle school teachers helping prep their high achievers for success in high school?

Direct Resources: Often, the younger classrooms need more help with differentiation because those students can’t work independently. Sommers directs volunteers into her youngest classrooms to spread resources and help throughout the class.

Create a Trickle-Down Culture of Learning: Set a tone of constant inquiry and learning. One way to encourage this is by starting a school blog or wiki and having the entire school—teachers, students, and staff—research and write about a topic.

Maximize the Home-School Connection: Work with the parents of your high-achieving students to maximize their potential in and out of school. “Top achievers in any school are likely to have parents who are creating a strong family and community background for those kids,” says Wyner. Make use of that by working with parents to get kids involved in after-school activities that will really enhance their strengths, such as a tutoring program at a local university.

Leave It Open-Ended: The Center for Urban Education’s Barbara Radner recommends giving students open-ended questions and assignments. Allow high achievers to grapple with more difficult questions or assignments based on the concept that the class is learning.

Create Cross-Classroom Collaboration: Encourage teachers to team up and even let kids move into different classes or grade levels. When teachers identify a student with a strong ability, they may find an ideal partner in another grade, says author Deborah Ruf.

Make School Matter: Don’t let students think school is easy no matter what. “One of the most important reasons that we should differentiate for high achievers,” says University of Connecticut’s McCoach, “is because if they aren’t challenged early on, they get the impression that school is something that is not worth the effort.”

The Complete Year in Reading and Writing: Kindergarten

Provides a detailed curricular calendar that's tied to a developmental continuum and the standards so you'll know not only what you should be teaching, but what your students are ready to embrace and what you can reasonably expect of them as successful readers and writers. Additionally, you'll find monthly units of study that integrate reading and writing so both work together to provide maximum support for your students. The units are organized around four essential components, process, genre, strategy, and conventions, so you're reassured you're addressing everything your students need to know about reading and writing. What's more you'll find ready-to-use lessons that offer exemplary teaching and continuous assessment, and a flexible framework that shows you how to frame a year of teaching, a unit, and a lesson—and you can easily adapt all to fit the unique needs and interests of your own students. 240 pages DVD (17 minutes) & fold-out color year-long planner .

Differentiation in Action

Judith Dodge effectively blends her years of experience and the latest research on differentiated instruction to provide teachers with innovative tools that generate immediate impact on classroom teaching and learning. In this book she helps teachers to: translate research into action, inform their instruction through on-going and frequent assessments, access multiple pathways for learning, foster "intrinsic" motivation, use "instructional intelligence" and flexible groupings, harness the power of visual tools, scaffold instruction for struggling learners, and provide challenging options for advanced learners. 160 pages.

Use these eight strategies, from Joseph Renzulli, director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented at the University of Connecticut and cofounder of Renzulli Learning, to challenge all of your students, no matter where their strengths lay.

1. Set up committeesEstablish committees to challenge the diverse learning and affective needs of gifted and talented students across all grade levels, including curriculum differentiation targeting above-average students; more advanced enrichment, content, and acceleration for advanced learners; independent study and research; and counseling and other services to meet affective needs.

2. Encourage varied groupingResearch by both Marcia Gentry from Purdue University and James Kulik from the University of Michigan has found that cluster grouping and other forms of instructional grouping with differentiated instruction and content benefits gifted and talented students and also helps to challenge other students across all levels of achievement.

3. Enable accelerationA recent report by professors Nicholas Colangelo and Susan Assouline of the University of Iowa, “A Nation Deceived,” summarizes different types of acceleration and existing research support on this strategy (www.nationdeceived.org). The Ohio State Department of Education provides one comprehensive example of an acceleration policy for advanced learners that can be adapted for individual district use.

4. Adapt advanced curriculumAs an excellent example, Sally Reis at the University of Connecticut has worked on reading opportunities for talented readers (www.gifted.uconn.edu/semr). And Katherine Gavin and her colleagues at the University of Connecticut have developed an exciting advanced math curriculum in a program called Project M3, Mentoring Mathematical Minds, for academically talented elementary students.

5. Adopt other national programsPrograms such as Future Problem Solving, developed at the University of Georgia by Paul Torrance, have enabled hundreds of thousands of students to solve problems in society and in their communities. Other opportunities, such as Odyssey of the Mind, give students creative problem-solving opportunities. Many academically talented and gifted students have participated in National History Day, in which students work individually or in small groups on a historical project or paper related to a theme that is determined each year. These programs can be integrated into regular classrooms as well as after-school or extracurricular activities.

6. Offer professional developmentMany principals and superintendents have organized professional development opportunities to enable classroom teachers to learn techniques for differentiated instruction, and strategies such as tiered assignments with shared content and themes, project-based learning, and choosing the right books. The right professional development plan can ensure sufficient challenges for all students and help eliminate content that students have already mastered.

7. Encourage open-ended assignmentsThe more teachers can offer open-ended learning opportunities in reading, social studies, and science, the better. This allows high-achieving students to take their work to a deeper level, and is beneficial for all students. Projects that draw on higher-level thinking and provide opportunities for real-life experiences lead to more enjoyment in learning.

8. Aim for school-wide enrichmentThe same learning opportunities that engage and motivate advanced students work with all students—we all want authentic learning experiences that are exciting and challenging. Work with teachers to implement options for deep enrichment school-wide.